Handler's staying up late at E!

5:00 AM PDT 8/24/2007
by
Kimberly Nordyke
,
AP

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E! Entertainment Television has extended its new late-night comedy talk show "Chelsea Lately" through year's end.

The show, featuring comedian Chelsea Handler, debuted in July and airs weeknights at 11:30. It originally had been given a 30-episode — or six-week — order but will now continue with new episodes through 2007.

The half-hour series features Handler offering her take on pop culture and celebrity news and discussing breaking-news stories and timely topics with a roundtable of guests. It also features one-on-one celebrity interviews and comedic field packages.

"The buzz surrounding 'Chelsea Lately' has been enormous; our online campaign generated thousands of calls even before the show launched," said Lisa Berger, executive vp programming development at E!

"Chelsea's unique sense of humor and fresh take on pop culture has made the series a great addition to our late-night lineup, increasing the ratings substantially. We're delighted to continue the series."

E! said the show has given its time slot an 11% boost in household ratings compared with a year ago and that late-night overall is up 29%.

Handler, who performs stand-up around the country, also starred in E!'s "The Chelsea Handler Show" and Oxygen's "Girls Behaving Badly." She is the author of the book "My Horizontal Life" and its sequel, "Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea," which will be published in the fall.